The Hidden Truth
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: Vinnie Dakota stumbles on an old file request of Cavendish's. A request for a new partner.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The funny thing is, I drew the cover photo art long before I even thought about this story. I just drew a picture, seriously liked it...and then I was trying super hard to figure out an idea to go with it. I mean, whenever I imagine a disagreement between Vinnie and Balthazar fighting I always see Balthazar as the one who walks away in anger. In what situation would** _ **Vinnie Dakota**_ **be the one to leave? Only a single idea came to my mind, and it's actually one that I really loved, so I just had to write it.**

 **Oh, also, I'm trying to write this relationship as a bromance, which, in my mind, perfectly toes the line between a platonic and romantic relationship. Hopefully I wrote this right, and if I did than the status of their relationship should be up to interpretation. Read it as you will (though I admit, at times the line between romantic and platonic probably gets crossed.)**

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It was an unusually quiet day for the time traveling pistacchio protectors. There weren't any exploding pistacchio carts. No domesticated herds of llamas had eaten their supplies. They weren't even currently on an assignment that would probably backfire in some horrible way. It was just a quiet, normal day, and Vinnie Dakota planned on taking advantage of that for as long as he could.

 _*Bam!*_

The sound of books being slammed on the table that he was resting his feet on cruelly brought Vinnie back to reality. He raised and eyebrow and looked up to meet his partner's eyes. Cavendish looked annoyed about something...so what else was new?

"What did I do this time?" Vinnie asked almost boredly. He wasn't the least bit intimidated by his partner's glare.

"Nothing." Cavendish said irritably. "That's the problem. "You're not doing _anything_. Couldn't you at least _try_ to make yourself productive?"

"It's our day off." Vinnie countered.

"It is not." Cavendish snapped. "You know very well that we have an assignment tonight."

"Yeah, to- _night_ , not to- _day._ " Vinnie smirked slightly. Technically, we have the day off."

Cavendish scowled and pushed Vinnie's legs off of the kitchen table. "That may be so, but that is no excuse to do absolutely nothing."

"I don't think you understand the concept of a 'day off'." Vinnie said, which only served to irritate Cavendish even more.

"I understand the concept perfectly well, thank you very much." Cavendish huffed bitterly. "But just because we aren't currently on an assignment does not mean that there's nothing else that needs to be done."

"Yeah?" Vinnie grabbed a chip from a nearby bag and tossed it into his mouth. "Like what?"

Cavendish gestured his arms to their entire apartment. "Like cleaning this place up, for once. It's filthy."

Vinnie looked around the place. To him it didn't really look that bad. Maybe there was an odd sock here or there, and the dishes were still out from breakfast, but he wouldn't exactly say that it was _filthy_. "You know I'm not good with these things. Besides, you seem to have it covered."

Cavendish crossed his arms. "I'm sure even _you_ could handle organizing the file cabinet."

Vinnie frowned. "The cabinet? No way!" As time travelers that did top secret work for the government, they had a _ton_ of official papers and documents. Because Cavendish was always stressing about throwing away something important he kept _all of it_. He hadn't had time to organize things though. As it was all of the papers were just shoved into the cabinet and that was it.

"Why do I gotta do it?" Vinnie asked. If it was up to him they wouldn't have kept a quarter of those documents around. He didn't really think any of them were necessary. Most of them were just old reports of previous missions. _None_ of them were things that he even wanted to looked at. They were too boring.

"Because someone must." Cavendish sighed, and it was clear that he was getting tired of this discussion. "If you do this one job for me than afterwards we can go get chili dogs."

Those magic words sealed the deal. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Cavendish grabbed Vinnie's arm and pulled him to his feet. He shoved him towards the front room. "Now go on."

"Yeah, fine." Vinnie shoved his hands in his pockets and went to the stupid cabinet. He just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Vinnie opened up the first drawer of the file cabinet and frowned when he saw how messed up it was. Geeze, for somebody who liked organization so much he could seriously make a big mess. Vinnie sighed and just pulled the entire drawer out and dumped it on the ground.

Most of the papers were just strays and came fluttering out. At the very bottom of the drawer though there was a thick manila envelope that thumped down to the ground. Vinnie frowned curiously. Even though Cavendish said that all of these papers were important this was the only thing that actually looked like it.

He put down the drawer and knelt down. Vinnie picked up the envelope and looked it over. His eyes widened when on the opposite side he saw a large red ' _Denied'_ stamped on it. He recognized the stamp as the one that the time agency used. The question was, what exactly had been denied?

Vinnie looked over his shoulder, just to double check that his partner wasn't watching him, waiting to scold him for not doing his job. Cavendish wasn't there, he hadn't left the kitchen. Vinnie turned back to the envelope and quickly opened it. He pulled the stack up papers out of the envelope and glanced with eager curiosity over the first page. Vinnie froze when his eyes fell on five words that stuck out to him like sore thumbs.

' _Request for a new partner'._

...What?

Sure that he had read that wrong, or maybe just misunderstood it, Vinnie read through the whole document. All seven pages of it. Even though he wasn't much of a reader, and he regretted even finding the stupid envelope by the time he had finished with half of the first page, he couldn't stop reading. Even after he had read through the whole thing Vinnie just stared at it while an empty feeling came to his chest.

"Dakota, what on earth are you doing over there?" Vinnie flinched at the sound of his partner's voice. He didn't have to turn around to know that Cavendish was standing in the doorway, a displeased expression on his face. Vinnie only knew that because Cavendish was _always_ displeased and annoyed by _something_...by him.

"...Dakota, what are you doing?" Cavendish repeated the question, though it sounded more curious and concerned than angry and annoyed this time.

Vinnie wanted to lie. He wanted to say that it wasn't anything and just ignore the fact that something was wrong. At the same time though a stronger part of him desperately needed to hear what his partner had to say.

Without turning around Vinnie held up the documents from a few week's previously...yeah, that recent. "What's this?" Vinnie wanted to hear it from his partner. He also really _didn't_ want to. He felt Cavendish snag the papers out of his hand. Almost immediately there was a short gasp of surprise, but also of guilt.

"Where did you get this?" Vinnie closed his eyes in defeat at Cavendish's question. For him that was enough confirmation that this was real. Cavendish really had wanted to work with somebody, _anybody_ else.

"It was at the bottom of the filing cabinet." Vinnie got to his feet and finally turned to face his partner. "What I want to know is what it was doing there?" Vinnie made to snatch back the papers, but Cavendish held them out of his reach.

"You weren't meant to see it." Cavendish said, as if all of this was _Vinnie's_ fault. The younger man clenched his fists. Of course Cavendish would make this seem like this was all Vinnie's fault. He thought that _everything_ was his fault. The empty numbness that Vinnie had felt after seeing the request papers turned to anger.

" _You're_ the one who told me to clean out the file cabinet." Vinnie said shortly. "Trust me, I didn't go looking for it."

"No, I suppose not." Cavendish frowned slightly. He probably just wasn't used to seeing Vinnie get angry about anything. "I had forgotten that I had put it there in the first place." He muttered to himself. Surprisingly, this did nothing to make Vinnie feel better or calm him down.

"Why did you send it in in the first place?" Vinnie asked in a quieter, colder tone. Cavendish visibly tensed at the question. A slight flush came over his cheeks.

"Well, you see, I just…" Cavendish cleared his throat and shook his head. He straightened his back as the usual serious expression came over his face. "Honestly, why are we even discussing this? It really doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters!" Vinnie shouted. The apartment fell silent after his outburst. Cavendish stared at his companion with wide, shock filled eyes. He had never seen him shout like that before. _Ever._ Vinnie crossed his arms defensively over his chest and refused to make eye contact with Cavendish. "It matters that you think that all of our failed missions were _my_ fault." He said in a near whisper.

Cavendish sighed and began to approach him. Vinnie turned away from him. Cavendish frowned. "Dakota, you must know that I don't think that way anymore." Vinnie flinched slightly at his last word. Cavendish had just said that he _had_ thought that everything had been his fault. That wasn't much better.

"Yeah? And what changed?" Vinnie asked, feeling genuinely curious. He had read all of Cavendish's complaints about him, and from what he could tell _nothing_ had changed. Vinnie was still the same person that he had been. He still did the things that Cavendish had apparently despised.

"My attitude, I suppose." Cavendish said. " _I_ was the one with the problem, not you. Once I realized that I learned how to looked past your supposed flaws. I was finally able to see _you_."

Vinnie frowned. The were nice words and all, but right now that was all they were. Words. He lifted his head and met Cavendish's eyes. "Yeah, but did you change because you _wanted_ to? Or because you knew that you were stuck with me?"

Cavendish opened his mouth to answer but closed it soon after when he found that he couldn't answer entirely honestly. "...I'm not entirely sure." He admitted after a moment.

Vinnie shook his head. "That's what I thought." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked right past Cavendish towards the front door. A hand at his arm stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cavendish asked. Vinnie could hear concern as well as a scolding tone in his voice. The thing was, he didn't know which tone was Cavendish's real feelings, and which one was just the cover. "We have a mission tonight."

"That's still a few hours away." Vinnie said. "I'll probably be back by then. I just need some air." And space.

"And if you're not?" Cavendish raised an eyebrow.

Vinnie frowned and glared slightly at his partner. Was he just concerned about the mission? "Do it yourself. We both know that's what you'd prefer anyways." Vinnie yanked his arm out of his partner's grip and ran out before he could be stopped again. And also before he lost his nerve.

"Dakota? Dakota!" Cavendish cried out, but Vinnie just kept running. He didn't even look back. He had to escape for a little bit, and he knew that he wouldn't go through with it if he turned around now.

"Vinnie!" The young man bit his lip and blinked back tears. He blocked out the sound of his partner's voice. Upon doing so Vinnie felt the tears fall as he realized that he was ignoring his partner, he wasn't listening to him, which, according to the request, was actually a major reason why Cavendish had wanted a new partner.

Vinnie was also running away from his responsibilities, being disrespectful (if running out wasn't a sign of disrespect, Vinnie didn't know what was) and taking something that wasn't all that important way too seriously. He just seemed to be doing everything wrong that Cavendish hated about him, and he hadn't even noticed that he was doing it.

Maybe Cavendish really _did_ deserve to have a different partner. As much as he hated to admit it, Vinnie was starting to think that Cavendish _should_ have somebody else as a partner. _Anybody_ else would probably be better than him.

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 **A/N: I really wasn't planning on doing this, but I think I'm going to split this into two chapters. I have two reasons for this. The first one being that I don't like leaving a chapter for a story until I've finished it and I want to write something else right now. The second is that the next part will probably be in Cavendish's point of view, and I think it's much neater to switch P.O.V. in a new chapter instead of in the middle of one. That's just my personal opinion, and it's not even how I feel all the time. It just is right now. I should have the second chapter up fairly soon though.**


	2. Chapter 2

Balthazar had always felt a need to have control in his life. He had grown up in an environment that had made it near impossible for him to have any say in his life. Everything had been decided for him. It was a near poisonous upbringing, and even now, decades later, he was still struggling to move on from his past.

It was why he had become a time traveler. What better way to deal with the cruel mistakes of others in his past then by doing what he could to fix the mistakes of just the past in general? It gave him a sense of control over his future, the fact that he could, potentially, change his past (even though it was strictly forbidden for him to get involved in his own past, or that of his ancestors).

The person that Balthazar had been assigned to as a partner had all but demolished that sense of control.

Vinnie Dakota was an unpredictable man. That was about the easiest way to describe him, but it didn't even begin to cover how complicated and confusing he was.

Dakota was of of the youngest time travelers in their agency, but unlike all the others his age he wasn't impulsive and passionate about the work. Dakota was actually quite laid back and relaxed, as though he had been doing this sort of thing for years and it just came as second nature to him.

But he most certainly didn't have the air of professionalism about him like most seasoned time travelers did. Dakota was quite immature, always thinking with his stomach and heart rather than his head. He was always snacking on the pistachios that they were supposed to keep safe, or feeding the nuts to some animals that he had befriended.

Dakota was quite fond of animals.

On some missions Dakota would be the voice of reason when Balthazar let his own pride and hurt feelings to lead him to act impulsively. On other missions Dakota would stand around and not lift a finger to help, even though they were _supposed_ to be partners. On yet other missions Dakota would refuse to listen to a word that Balthazar said.

On the few occasions that Dakota _had_ done as Balthazar told him to, he did it while commenting about how it wasn't a very good idea. This distracted Balthazar each and every time, he would lose his focus, and suddenly the shipment of pistachios they were supposed to be protecting would be up in flames.

Vinnie Dakota was most _definitely_ an unpredictable young man. Balthazar never knew how his partner would choose to do things that way, and it was a constant struggle for him to try to figure it out.

Balthazar _hated_ not feeling in control of his own life, and his partner just threw too many curveballs in his direction for him to get a grip on it. None of this was exactly Dakota's fault, he certainly didn't _mean_ to cause things to spiral out of control. Balthazar just didn't know how to regain control, and it _scared_ him.

Although, Balthazar probably should have told as much to his partner _before_ he had run off.

He really wasn't sure what he should do. This was the first time that Dakota had ever run off like this. It was usually Balthazar who was the one who got angry and ran off for an hour or two because of a fight. Dakota had never done this before, and every second that he was gone made Balthazar more and more concerned. If this was how Dakota felt whenever Balthazar left to cool his head, then he may have to consider a different method of calming down, because this was absolutely nerve-racking.

Balthazar sat on the bed and frowned. He held the request papers for a new partner in his hands. He remembered that he had felt very serious about working with somebody else, but now he couldn't really remember why. Looking over the papers Balthazar still didn't exactly understand it. There were seven whole pages that basically just said that the two of them couldn't get along with each other.

More like Balthazar hadn't been willing to even _try_ to get along with Dakota.

Looking back on his old reasons for despising being Dakota's partner, Balthazar realized that many of them were reasons why he actually admired Dakota, and the others were barely even true at all.

Dakota didn't necessarily respect authority the way that Balthazar had expected him to at first, but he didn't exactly _disrespect_ it. Dakota just _questioned_ things sometimes. He had a sense of kindness about him, which was a rare trait for time travelers. If anybody he was working with, regardless of their ranking, wanted to do something that was less than ethical Dakota questioned their motives and logic.

Dakota was young, and he was often lazy, but he didn't let that get in the way of their missions. In his own way, Dakota _did_ in fact take their work very seriously. It had just taken some time for Balthazar to recognize that not all professionalism had to look like the way it did for him.

And as for the fact that they didn't work well together as partners, that they were just too different from each other, well, that was completely nonsense. Balthazar's dedication to his job helped him to drag Dakota forward when the younger man occasionally lost focus on the job. And Dakota's fun personality kept Balthazar from taking everything too seriously. Their personalities clashed against each other, but that was _why_ they worked so well together. They kept each other in check without even trying to.

And they actually worked _very_ well together as partners. Failure in their missions did _not_ equate to their teamwork being a failure, they just had bad luck... _extremely_ bad luck.

Balthazar set aside the papers and pinched the bridge of his nose. What had he been thinking when he had turned in the request in the first place?

Balthazar looked out the window and frowned when he saw how dark it was getting. Dakota had left in the early afternoon, and now evening was falling. Dakota had been gone all afternoon, and Balthazar was beginning to get worried...well, he had been worried from the start, but only now was he starting to think that he had made a mistake in just letting Dakota leave.

Whenever Balthazar got upset, he just needed his space for a few hours and he was just fine. But Vinnie Dakota was most definitely _not_ Balthazar Cavendish. Just because the older man needed to be alone when he was having his little tantrums did not mean that Dakota needed the same.

Balthazar looked at the old, cracked clock on the wall and narrowed his eyes. In just a little more than an hour the shipment of pistachios that they were supposed to intercept would be arriving, and Dakota _still_ wasn't back yet.

Balthazar sighed and got to his feet. He knew that this had gone on for long enough. He needed to go out and find Dakota.

Unfortunately, Balthazar didn't have the slightest idea of where to begin looking for Dakota. This wasn't their city, this wasn't even their time period. Balthazar just didn't know the places that Dakota might want to go. So he just went to the places that came to his mind.

Dakota wasn't in the pistachio warehouse. Balthazar had expected as much, but he had to begin _somewhere_. He went to the pier. He went to so many restaurants and diners, but he wasn't there. Balthazar even checked the bloody _mall_ , but Dakota was nowhere to be found.

It was only by luck that Balthazar had just happened to pass by the zoo. When he remembered how obnoxiously excited Dakota had been about going to the zoo, Balthazar knew that this was where he should be searching.

It should have been where he had gone from the start, because Balthazar knew that Dakota really did love animals. Cats, fish, llamas, he loved them all.

Unfortunately, Balthazar didn't know which animal was Dakota's favorite, so he was stuck with wandering around the zoo, hoping he would get lucky and find his partner. After quickly visiting six or seven exhibits Balthazar went to the monkey habitat and immediately spotted a young, curly haired man wearing a yellow, red, and orange track suit.

"Vinnie." Balthazar's voice was quiet, but Dakota still heard him. The younger man jumped in shock and looked back. Balthazar frowned when he saw the tear tracks on Dakota's cheeks. For as long as they had been working together, Balthazar had never seen Dakota cry before, and the knowledge that this had been _his_ fault was heartbreaking.

Balthazar couldn't help but wonder if this was the first time that he had brought his partner to tears. Something told him it wasn't.

"What are you doing here, Cavendish?" Dakota tone was guarded. He turned back towards the monkeys. "Don't you have a mission right about now?"

"Yes, I suppose we do." Balthazar didn't even have to know the specific time to know that the shipment had come and gone. He had been so busy looking for Dakota that the mission hadn't even crossed his mind since he had left the apartment. And, strangely, he found that he didn't really care.

Dakota must've been confused by the lack of disappointment or even anger in Balthazar's voice when he acknowledged that they did indeed have a mission and he knew that they were missing it. Dakota turned towards Balthazar again. "So what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you." Balthazar said honestly.

"What about the pistachios?" Dakota asked.

"They'll probably be gone by the time we get there." Balthazar admitted. "Though, if we're being completely honest with ourselves, we probably would have ended up losing them anyways."

"But tonight might have been the time when you could have accomplished the mission." Dakota said, and his tone made it clear that he completely believed that if Balthazar had gone to retrieve the pistachios, he would have gotten them successfully, even though all of their previous attempts served as evidence against it. That was a funny thing about Dakota. No matter how many times they failed their missions, he always stayed optimistic about them.

"Yes, I suppose it might have been." Balthazar said, even though he didn't truly believe it. "But I couldn't exactly have done it on my own, now could I?" He eyed his partner meaningfully. Dakota just rolled his eyes.

"It was an easy assignment. You probably would have been able to do it just fine on your own." Dakota pointed out.

Balthazar frowned slightly. "But I didn't want to." He said honestly. Dakota tensed slightly at his words. Balthazar sighed and sat down on the seat next to his partner. For a few minutes they just sat there, watching as the monkeys began to settle in for the night.

Balthazar struggled internally to find the words to express what he was thinking, but it was a lot harder to do than it looked. "Vinnie...about what happened-"

"Can we just go home?" Dakota asked in a small voice. Balthazar furrowed his brow slightly. That hadn't been what he had been expecting, or what he had wanted. He had been trying to explain things to Dakota, to apologize.

"We both know this isn't something we can just ignore, Vinnie." Balthazar said. Dakota frowned slightly at his words.

"Can we try though?" He asked. "Please, Balthy, just for tonight?"

"...Just for tonight." Balthazar found himself reluctantly agreeing. He knew they had to talk about this mess sooner rather than later, but neither of them were in the mood for it at the moment. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but he figured it would be alright for them to put off the conversation for a day or two.

Balthazar got to his feet. He offered a hand out to help Dakota up. The younger man sighed and took his hand. The two of them left the monkey exhibit and quickly made their way to the exit of the zoo before any management could find some reason to yell at the two of them for being there so late, even though the zoo was still technically open.

The two walked home in silence for a few minutes before it became too much for Balthazar. He had never heard Dakota be so quiet before, and it was quite unnerving. Feeling desperate to hear Dakota like his old self, Balthazar asked how his day had been.

He spent the next half an hour listening to Dakota rave about how much giraffes apparently loved pistachios. Balthazar willingly listened to the mindless chatter, and actually found himself being rather amused by it. It was much easier for him to appreciate Dakota's enthusiasm about childish things when they weren't in the middle of a mission.

Balthazar really _did_ enjoy being around Dakota. He may be overbearing sometimes, but his joy and excitement about just the smallest little things, as well as the way he didn't stress out about the big things, made Dakota just a nice person to be around.

Balthazar just wished that he knew how to tell as much to the younger man. Because, even though they had their differences are arguments, they really _did_ work quite well together.

And Balthazar couldn't imagine being partnered with anybody else.

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 **A/N: I'm really not sure what I was doing with this chapter. I just started writing and this is what we ended with. It didn't really resolve anything, and I don't think I meant it to. Balthazar seems like the type of person who has a hard time talking about his feelings, and while definitely wouldn't feel completely alright about all of this, he'll probably quickly forgive Balthazar just because of how the older man basically chose to go after Vinnie rather than do their assigned mission, implying that Balthazar cares more about Vinnie and their relationship than he does about his job, which we all know he cares about _a lot._**


End file.
